End the violence! Now!

Saturday night Aimee and I took the kids to a triple-A baseball game in Albuquerque. It was fireworks night and since the kids missed the explosions on the 4th we thought this would make up for it. The fireworks display was spectacular but I could not keep my mind from wandering during the show. As the rockets kept exploding above me in a great array of colors, I could not help but think about the wars being waged around the world. As I felt each explosion inside my chest and as the crowd oohed and aaahed, I could not help but wonder what the children and other innocent civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Israel must be going through every day.

Everyone in these countries knows someone, if not a loved one, who has been injured, maimed or killed as a result of a U.S. air strike, Israeli air strike, insurgent bombing, Shiite militia attack, Taliban attack or Hezbollah rocket fire. Does any of this violence end in a positive outcome? Is an eye for an eye the best solution? Doesn’t violence beget more violence?

I recently read Time’s piece titled Baghdad Diary by Aparisim Ghosh.(link at bottom) In his view Iraq is already in a civil war and appears to be headed deeper, while politicians here in America debate whether or not a civil war in Iraq is even an option.

While we are being distracted by foiled terrorist plots and another Israeli war, Iraq is still in its free fall. While we are more worried about what we can and can not carry on a plane, Iraqis are worried about what the next plane is going to be dropping on them or what car they walk past might blow up.

They can not look to their puppet democracy for answers because these people that represent them were elected mainly because of their sectarian views, not because they had any real ideas on how to stop the violence. This is one thing that the Iraqis have embraced about our democracy. It is easier to get votes by bashing the other guy than to actually have an idea of how to solve any problems.

So where does this leave our servicemen and women while Iraq implodes even further? We are now still trying to train Iraqi military and police but unfortunately in doing so I am afraid we are most likely training the insurgency and future militia. How many Iraqi’s have a real sense of country before religious beliefs? How many Shiites believe that if you stand a Shiite beside a Sunni that they both should have equal rights?

We here in America have been desensitized to the violence in Iraq that is happening to Iraqi civilians. 6,000 Iraqis were killed in the months of May and June more than any since the fall of Saddam, but we only see that as a number and not people. The Bush administration is quick to tout every piece of good news that comes out of Iraq as a turning point, but nothing seems to be able to stop the violence. I remember when Time ran the cover page with Zarqawi on the front with a big red X over him that I wrote the words BIG DEAL on his forehead.
I did not believe that killing this one person was any kind turning point and unfortunately I was right. Iraq has more violence now than ever.

Remember all the good news from Iraq.

-Mission Accomplished
-We got Saddam
- The Iraqi people have voted (All our dumb ass politicians running around with purple fingers)
- They voted on a constitution
- Insurgency in its last throes
- We got Zarqawi
- They have a Unity Government

With all this good news why are we sending in more troops? We need a timetable for withdraw. America needs to demand this from every politician running for office in the upcoming midterms. If your representative will not stand up for the troops and give them a clearly defined mission and an end point then they do not deserve your vote.

Yes, W. keeps saying “When they stand up, we will stand down”, but it is time to tell the Iraqi’s it is time to stand up because our men and women are standing down. Yes, we created the situation and the civil war but the only people that can end it are the Iraqi’s. When they realize that everyone now has blood on their hands maybe they will find a better way. Just maybe if the Iraqi politicians realize that their safe green zone is about to disappear then they will get serious about solving problems in the red zone.

We can not promote democracy at the end of a gun. It has to be a movement. It has to be wanted. It has to be earned. It is time for the Iraqi’s to show they want a country and not just more bloodshed. It is time for them to realize that every Iraqi can prosper if they can find a way to forgive past atrocities and move ahead for their children’s sake.